Governance Officer

About the role

Shape governance in a modern and ambitious unitary council

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced governance professional to join North Northamptonshire Council's Democratic Services team and play a key role at the heart of local democracy.

Since becoming a unitary council in 2021, we have established strong governance arrangements and invested significantly in our Democratic Services function, creating an exciting environment for governance professionals looking to make a real impact. Having moved beyond implementation of a comprehensive restructure in 2024, we are now focussing on continuous improvement, innovation and delivering business partnering arrangements that support high-quality governance and effective decision-making across the Council.

Working closely with elected Members and officers, you will play a key role in this next stage of our governance journey, supporting effective decision-making, providing expert procedural guidance and helping to ensure the highest standards of transparency, accountability and governance.

Why join us?

• Be part of a council that has successfully completed local government reorganisation and established strong governance foundations.
• Play a key role in supporting local democracy and decision-making.
• Join a supportive and collaborative Democratic Services team.
• Gain experience across complex governance and committee functions.
• Benefit from professional development opportunities.
• Contribute to an ambitious council delivering for its communities.

What will you be doing?

You will provide high-quality governance and committee support, ensuring meetings and decision-making processes are managed effectively, lawfully and transparently. Key responsibilities include:

• Supporting committees throughout the decision-making cycle, from agenda planning through to publication of decisions.
• Preparing agendas, minutes, decision notices and associated documentation.
• Providing procedural advice and guidance to Members and officers.
• Maintaining information within Modern.Gov and ensuring statutory requirements are met.
• Supporting public participation and constitutional processes.
• Assisting with Member and officer training on governance matters.
• Supporting report authors and contributing to the continuous improvement of governance processes.

About you

You will be a confident, organised and politically aware professional who enjoys working in a fast-paced environment and takes pride in delivering high-quality governance support. We are particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate:

• Experience in supporting democratic governance, committee administration or formal decision-making processes.
• A strong understanding of local government governance and constitutional procedures.
• The ability to prepare accurate, concise minutes and governance documentation.
• Experience advising Members and officers on procedural matters.
• Excellent organisational, communication and relationship-building skills.
• The ability to handle confidential and sensitive matters with professionalism and discretion.

If you are looking to apply your governance expertise within a modern, ambitious council and help shape effective decision-making, we would love to hear from you.

Interviews will be scheduled for week commencing 28 September 2026.

If you have any questions about the role, please do contact 01536 859207 and ask for Francesca.

Please note that North Northamptonshire Council is currently unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Our Benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

Disability Confident Employer

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Our Employment and Disability Service provides bespoke support to individuals facing barriers to employment, helping them work towards their goals to start, stay and succeed in employment. For further information please click here The Employment and Disability Service (EADS) | North Northamptonshire Council

Armed Forces Community

The council obtained the Gold status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)